Dudes Like Dude Stuff, and Other Discoveries From The Atlantic’s Take on ‘Bropinning’

It's a "menaissance!"

Ron Swanson of "Parks and Recreation," the manliest man we know. (baconwrappedshrimp.wordpress.com)

Did you know that sometimes guys use the Internet for things other than porn and perpetrating sexist stereotypes? Here at Ladybeat, we know very little about the Internet habits of the opposite sex, but luckily Jennifer Doll, she of single lady fame, bro-ke it down for us in a manticle for The Atlantic.

According to Ms. Doll, the rise of popular online communities like social news site Reddit and the XY’s answer to Pinterest, Gentlemint, is ushering in a new acceptance of grownup man behaviors, like wearing matching socks and not smelling like the last car of the R train. Congratulations, gentlemen! You have now graduated from frustrating manchildren to fancy grownups in just one month, all with the help of “bropinning.”

But what is bropinning, you might ask? Aside from being a terribly executed portmanteau, it’s also a hashtag employed on dude-friendly websites to indicate manly content is ahead. Proceed with caution, ladies. Beers and mustaches and bizarre stock photos of a woman trying to eat a carrot off a stick are not for your delicate girl eyes.

Ms. Doll also argues that the rise of websites that encourage men to share their aspirations are leading to a resurgence in the metrosexual lifestyle. “McKay suggests we may (finally) be entering a post-hipster society in which ‘men are interested in growing up and putting on the clothes of men instead of this extended adolescence,'” she writes. But what of the manchildren of last month? Has Gentlemint finally convinced our nation’s porn-obsessed, basement-dwelling Peter Pans to suck it up, suck it in and iron their shirts? Is this truly an “anti-douchebag movement,” a glorious “menaissance, a time of renewal in men’s lives in which they take an interest in self-improvement and pop culture?”

But we here at Ladybeat are in full support of the decline of douchebaggery (and brogramming, for that matter). Let the dudes have their manly enclaves, so they may do their manly things, like pinning watermelon salads and shit.

Betabeat is now the newly launched Innovation section of the Observer. All your favorite features and columns—as well as exciting new areas of tech coverage—can now be found at Observer.com/Innovation.

Don't miss the latest and best writing on technology and the future of business innovation. Add the Innovation section to your RSS feed and follow the Observer on Twitter and Facebook.